The Adventures of Toto

1. How does Toto come to grandfather’s private zoo?

Answer: Toto was in the captivity of a tonga owner. The grandfather gets sympathetic with the monkey and thinks that his private zoo would be a better place for Toto. So he purchased Toto from the tongawallah for five rupees.

2. “Toto was a pretty monkey.” In what sense is Toto pretty?

Answer: The definition of beauty can vary according to the subject. For an animal the shining fur or long horns or mane can be adding beauty to its personality. In case of Toto, its bright mischievous eyes along with pearly white teeth and tail enhanced its personality. Monkeys are generally naughty, so the naughty glint in Toto’s eyes was clearly telling about its nature. Teeth are used by animals to show ferocity and Toto’s teeth were really helpful in frightening others.

3. Why does grandfather take Toto to Saharanpur and how? Why does the ticket collector insist on calling Toto a dog?

Answer: Toto was a real menace for every living soul in the household. Other animals in grandfather’s zoo were at Toto’s mercy even during night. So, grandfather decided to provide some relief to other animals in the zoo and thought of taking Toto to Shaharanpur.

The ticket collector was following his rulebooks. As there seems to be no rule for fixing a monkey’s fare so he equated Toto with dog. Ticket collector’s ingenuity tried to categorize all pets of a certain size as dogs.

4. How does Toto take a bath? Where has he learnt to do this? How does Toto almost boil himself alive?

Answer: Toto takes bath in a tub of warm water. It puts its legs in the water one by one and applies soap as well. As monkeys are good at aping others, so Toto has learnt proper steps of bathing while watching the narrator doing same.

Toto is fond of bathing with warm water. So once having tested the warmth of water in the kettle Toto sits in the kettle. Probably he is not intelligent enough to understand the risk boiling water so he pops his head up and down in the kettle.

5. Why does the author say, “Toto was not the sort of pet we could keep for long”?

Answer: Toto’s nuisance was increasing by days. It was destroying everything it could lay hands on. For a family of a middle class status buying dishes every day can be a costly affair. Or for that matter it can be an unnecessary harassment for people from any economic background. So keeping a naughty monkey like Toto can never be a pleasant experience for anybody.